"Tenements" were buildings that were erected to house multiple
working-class families. Typically these multi-storied edifices were
built between the middle of the nineteenth century and the start of the
Great Depression. These dwellings were filled with tenants beyond any
reasonable capacity; eventually living conditions became deplorable. It was
not until 1929, the year during which the Stock
Market crashed, that New York State passed its
"Multiple Dwelling Law" which recognized the shoddy living conditions
that existed in these tenements and specified how these conditions were
to be improved. In part the law, Chapter 13 of the Laws of 1929 stated:

"It is hereby declared that
intensive occupation of multiple dwelling sites, overcrowding of
multiple dwelling rooms, inadequate provision for light and air, and
insufficient protection against the defective provision for escape from
fire, and improper sanitation of multiple dwellings in certain areas of
the state are a menace to the health, safety, morals, welfare, and
reasonable comfort of the citizens of the state; and that the
establishment and maintenance of proper housing standards requiring
sufficient light, air, sanitation and protection from fire hazards are
essential to the public welfare."

Real estate prices back in the early 1800s were expensive. Because of
this,
much of the real estate up until that point was constructed for the
well-off, i.e. those who could afford to pay a higher price for a dwelling, whether
it be residential or commercial. Starting in the late 1840s, however,
hordes of immigrants began arriving in the United States. Most of
them decided to live in New York City, especially on the vastly overcrowded Lower East Side. It was obvious,
after a time,
that the number of housing facilities available at the time of this huge
influx would not be enough to keep up with the demand. The multi-family
dwellings that existed before this influx were not created on such a
grand scale, at least to the degree that it could satisfy the greatly
increased need for housing. At some point, it was realized that money could be made if many
of the poorer folk could be housed within these buildings. This proved to be a valuable business.

These landowners then, who owned land in
New York City, decided that housing the working class en masse could be
a monumental source of profit, i.e. if they could produce as much
housing as possible on their available land and build these "tenements" as
cheaply as possible. It should be noted that until 1867 there were no
laws in New York that regulated such development. There were no
requirements that the landowners provide their tenants with running
water, gas, proper ventilation or light. The only ones who would be
willing to live
under such shoddy conditions would be the poor, those who toiled for low
wages.

What could the immigrant do? They
needed to work to earn money. They needed money to feed themselves and
their family. They needed living quarters, and these tenements were most
often the only type of accommodation they could afford. Thus these
tenement dwellers lived in very poor conditions, often in dilapidated
and unsanitary conditions. Because of this, it was not unusual for
epidemics to spread within these tenements....

Photo courtesy of the New York Public
Library/Humanities and Social Sciences Library / Irma and Paul Milstein
Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy.